Haye vs. Chisora? That's just handbags - watch the women at the Olympics

By Rachel Wood, CNN

Updated 1827 GMT (0127 HKT) July 13, 2012

Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

Forced apart – David Haye and Dereck Chisora have never before faced off in the ring, but Saturday's controversial fight is borne of their mutual animosity.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

Trouble brewing – Former WBA heavyweight champion Haye confronted Chisora at a press conference following his fellow British boxer's defeat by Vitali Klitschko in February.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

Munich mess – The Haye and Chisora teams then got involved in a violent brawl. Haye's manager Adam Booth was left with a bloodied face after being allegedly struck with a bottle.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

A slap in the face – Chisora had sparked controversy when he slapped Klitschko at the weigh-in ahead of their fight, and spat water at the Ukrainian's fellow world champion brother Wladimir. He subsequently lost his boxing license.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

Women in the ring – With the men's side of the sport receiving so much negative press, Britain's Lisa Jane Whiteside (left) and Poland's Sandra Kruk will be hoping to show the world what women can do at the Olympic Games this summer. Here are a few of the ones to watch...

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

'Magnificent Mary' – Mary Kom is one of the finest female boxers of her generation. She is the only woman to win a medal at all six Amateur World Championships, taking home the gold on five occasions. The 29-year-old is India's only qualifier for the Olympics and is also the IBA's Ambassador for Women's Boxing. In 2010 she was voted Indian Sportswoman of the Year.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

American ambition – At only 17 years of age, Clarissa Shields has already won 27 bouts, with 14 knockout wins to her name and only one loss. The U.S. middleweight has won two Junior Olympic championships and will be looking to add to that at London 2012.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

Britain's big hope – Savannah Marshall is Britain's strongest candidate for boxing gold on home canvas. In May the middleweight became the first Britsh woman to win a world title, overcoming a bloodied nose to beat Azerbaijan's Elena Vystropova on her 21st birthday.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

Irish invincible – Ireland's European and world champion Katie Taylor has won a total of 13 gold medals across three different federations, all at the 60 kg weight class. She has also represented the Republic of Ireland at international level in football, and might be recognized by some after starring in a recent Lucozade Sport advertisement.

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Can boxing's fairer sex control the ring?10 photos

UK pioneer – Ranked third in the world in the flyweight (51kg) division, Nicola Adams has been a pioneering figure for British women in the sport. In 2001 she became the first female boxer to ever represent England and in 2007 she became the first Briton to win a medal, with bantamweight silver at the European Championships and is now the continental flyweight champion.

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Story highlights

David Haye and Dereck Chisora will face off this Saturday in London

The fight will take place at Upton Park in front of a crowd of 30,000

An global audience throughout 60 countries will be tuning in to the controversial bout

Women's boxing debut at Olympics may rectify some of damage done to the sport

Money talks -- that's hardly a revelation, but the overriding feeling towards Saturday's David Haye versus Dereck Chisora "circus fight" in London is shock and outrage that it could even take place.

With neither fighter holding a British boxing license, promoter Frank Warren had to resort to asking the little-known Luxembourg federation to sanction the bout.

Chisora was banned by the World Boxing Council and the British Boxing Board of Control following his bust-up with Haye in Munich in February, while his former world champion opponent escaped punishment only because he had already retired.

Their ugly scuffle at a press conference after Chisora's defeat by Vitali Klitschko, which Haye attended, has set the scene for a showdown straight from the pages of the professional wrestling handbook.

Their pantomime behavior has only served to rack up the ticket sales to close to 30,000 and secure airtime in 60 countries worldwide.

Boxers brawl after title fight 6 photos

Boxers brawl after title fight6 photos

Street fighting man – Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye argues with Dereck Chisora moments before they brawled in Germany on Saturday.

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Boxers brawl after title fight6 photos

Beaten man – Chisora sits in his corner during his fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in the Olympic hall in Munich.

Slap happy – Chisora slapped Klitschko at the weigh-in ahead of their fight on Friday.

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Boxers brawl after title fight6 photos

Chisora's big chance – Zimbabwe-born Chisora had signed on to fight Klitschko's younger brother Wladimir in December 2010, but the Ukrainian pulled out due to injury.

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Boxers brawl after title fight6 photos

Haye meets his maker – Wladimir instead fought Haye in July 2011, taking the Briton's WBA title and defending his own belts. Haye retired in October after his 31st birthday, but has been angling to fight Vitali.

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"Chisora's not a nice guy, the fact he bites people in the ring, spits water in peoples' faces, slaps people at weigh-ins, kisses people at weigh-ins. What's to like?" Haye said this week.

Boxing commentator Steve Bunce has compared Haye and Chisora's Munich brawl to Lennox Lewis' pre-fight rumble with Mike Tyson a decade ago. Lewis punched Tyson, and in exchange the American bit his leg. This was heralded at the time as the biggest fight ever.

Needless to say this won't be the biggest fight ever, but expect passion, expect a feisty encounter between two British heavyweights who have both gone the distance with the Klitschko brothers in the past year and are still holding out for a rematch.

Haye has pointed to worldwide attraction to the scuffle in Germany -- 20 million views of a YouTube video showing him brandishing a glass bottle -- as justification for Saturday's fight.

"People are looking at it. If I'm disappointed in something, I'm not going to keep looking at it," Haye, who lost his WBA title to Wladimir Klitschko last year, told the UK Press Association.

"Beating Chisora won't add to my legacy. In 50 years' time when people look back at my career they won't see this fight and think Dereck Chisora was a great fight and look what David did to him.

"Chisora doesn't have any titles and has been coming off three losses. It's a fight for the night, simply because I beat him up at a press conference a few months ago."

To give some indication of where men's boxing is at, on the same night Britain's Amir Khan will be fighting Danny Garcia in Las Vegas, having been reinstated as WBA welterweight champion after American Lamont Peterson was found guilty of doping following his controversial win when they met in December.

WBC champion Garcia's trainer and father has already upped the stakes by insulting Khan's Pakistani heritage.

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"He's going to see a Pakistani fight on Saturday and knock his son out," Khan responded.

It's all in stark contrast to the image that women's boxing will be hoping to portray in the UK capital in the coming weeks, as females get to fight at the Olympics for the first time.

There's still some divided opinion as to whether female boxers should be included at the Games, but anyone who watches the athleticism and speed of veteran world titleholders Katie Taylor and Mary Kom will be left in no doubt as to their value to the tournament.

"She is without doubt the finest female amateur boxer in the world," Bunce said of Taylor, who has won her 60 kg division at every world championships since 2006.

According to one blogger: "Katie Taylor has single-handedly made women's boxing an accepted, if not yet a mainstream sport. Young girls throughout Ireland lace up in clubs each week, inspired by a bona fide hero, and our collective print and broadcast media are enamored with the woman that inspired them."

The Irish fighter's father Peter agrees, telling the Gulf news website: "Katie's pioneered the way for female boxing, she's made their path a little bit easier."

He's referring to the likes of 17-year-old Claressa Shields, who was the youngest boxer at the U.S. Olympic trials in February and fights with an assuredness beyond her years.

Then there's Savannah Marshall, who won Britain's first world title on her 21st birthday in May.

"She's winning for fun," says Bunce.

Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 70 6 photos

Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 706 photos

Golden moment – Cassius Clay, later to become known as Muhammad Ali, rose to prominence at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where he claimed a boxing gold medal in the light heavyweight division.

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Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 706 photos

High five – Ali boldly predicted how many rounds it would take him to knock out British boxer Henry Cooper ahead of their bout in London in 1963. The fight was stopped in the fifth round as Cooper was bleeding heavily from a cut around his eye and Ali was declared the winner. Cooper died in May 2011.

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Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 706 photos

I'm the greatest – Ali first became a world champion in 1964, when he was still known as Cassius Clay. He upset the odds to defeat reigning champion Sonny Liston, a result which prompted him to yell "I'm the greatest" at gathered reporters.

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Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 706 photos

Rumble in the Jungle – In 1974, Ali took part in one of the most famous world championship fights in the history of boxing. He took on reigning champion George Foreman in Zaire, in a fight which was dubbed the "Rumble in the Jungle." Ali emerged victorious after flooring Foreman in the eighth round.

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Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 706 photos

Let the Games begin – Ali provided one of the iconic images of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when he lit the Olympic flame to officially declare the Games open.

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Muhammad Ali: 'The Greatest' at 706 photos

Regaining gold – In addition to lighting the flame, Ali also received a replacement gold medal for the one he had won 36 years earlier. Ali tossed the original into the Ohio River after being refused entry to a restaurant.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Joe Frazier and Russian Vadim Yemelyanov fight in a semifinal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. Frazier went on to win gold.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Frazier poses in a fighting stance in the ring with his trainer Eddie Futch behind the ropes in 1968.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Muhammad Ali goes down in the 15th round after a left hook from world heavyweight champion Frazier in 1971, who kept the title with a unanimous points win.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Frazier and Joe Bugner compete during a world title eliminator fight at Earl's Court, London, in 1973. Frazier emerged the winner after a very hard-fought match.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Then South African president Nelson Mandela poses with former heavyweight boxing champions Michael Spinks, left, and Frazier in Pretoria in 1997.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Frazier and Sugar Ray Leonard meet before Frazier's daughter Jacqui Frazier-Lyde fought Laila Ali during the women's super middleweight fight in 2001 in New York.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Frazier and boxing promoter Don King attend the roasting of Don King at the Friars Club in 2005 in New York.

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Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures 8 photos

Joe Frazier: A Life in Pictures – Frazier poses for a portrait at his boxing gym in 2009 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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EXPAND GALLERY

Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee 9 photos

Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee9 photos

Ali's cornerman – Angelo Dundee helped a young Cassius Clay transform himself into the world heavyweight champion. Here he tapes the renamed Muhammad Ali's hands at a training session ahead of a 1966 bout with British champion Henry Cooper.

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Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee9 photos

Ruling the world – Dundee with Ali ahead of his successful title defense against Joe Bugner in June 1975.

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Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee9 photos

Old foe – George Foreman accused Dundee of loosening the ring ropes before his famous defeat by Ali in 1974's infamous "Rumble in the Jungle" but later worked with the trainer as he retained his IBF belt in 1995.

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Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee9 photos

Presidential approval – In 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton presented Ali and Dundee with the National Italian American Foundation One America award. Born in Philadelphia, Dundee had Italian ancestry.

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Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee9 photos

Silver screen – Dundee was portrayed by actor Ron Silver in the 2001 film "Ali" starring Will Smith in the title role and Jamie Foxx as assistant trainer Drew Bundini Brown.

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Ali's trainer: Angelo Dundee9 photos

Ball game – Dundee had the honor of throwing the first pitch of a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2010.

"She has the potential to turn her into an Indian sporting legend and a role model for young Indian women," it said.

"Despite its huge population, Olympic golds have been thin on the ground for India but Kom, the daughter of a farmer, has had the kind of humble beginnings and a family-oriented appeal that could make her the archetypal national heroine."

The name of boxing may have taken quite a battering in recent weeks with the media circus surrounding Haye vs. Chisora, but the women are sure to knock the men out of the limelight when it really matters at the London Games.

Just don't expect the (possibly fake) blood and guts you might see this weekend.